5 places you should dine on the Gold Coast, with Noa Deane

Interview by Elliot Struck

Noa Deane is the least obvious Coolangatta local ever, but he is still a local. He’s grown up here and has the place dialled as only a local can. He’s rarely in town, having done a ridiculous amount of filming trips last year, but when he is in the zone, the following five places are his favourite dining spots. Which might be even more pertinent given the fact the entire surf industry is in Coolangatta right now, waiting for the swell to show up to the Quiksilver Pro party.

Noa’s Disclaimer: “This day of eating is not for yoga girls. This is not for people who are training.. This is an acai-free diet, this is a paleo-free diet, and there’s no coconut water involved. It’s a grom diet, but with beer. You’ll really give it a hiding on the back end. There is GMO, and it has all been modified. There’s no chia seeds. If you ate all this in a day, you’d fucking die.” Just FYI.

****

Breakfast: Cafe Scooterini
1/99 Griffith Street, Coolangatta QLD 4225
Order: Eggs Benedict ($14)

Go eat breakfast at Cafe Scooterini. It’s sick, home style cooking, no frills. All the girls in there are fucking hilarious. Bullshit milkshakes, sick coffee, and you’ll get a funny chat in at the same time. It’s a heaps not-yuppy cafe. I like to get the chicken and goats cheese sandwich, which is really epic. But if I’m doing breakfast, the eggs Benedict is good there. It’s 14 bucks, and worth it. The caramel malt milkshake is so fucking legit, too. I’ve had it the last three days in a row, it’s so good.
(Noa’s lensman, Shane Fletcher, interjects: “What’s even better is, Noa is milk intolerant so he’ll walk out going “oooooow,” but then go back the next day and order it again.”)
Yeah, I do that. I don’t care. They’re so good that I can just deal with it. You’ve gotta cop one.

****

Brunch: Fresh Garden Cafe
100 Griffith Street, Coolangatta QLD 4225
Order: The Pure Indulgent ($5 for a small, plus a dollar for each upsize)

The juice shop, Fresh Garden Cafe! Get a juice there. It’s just near the skatepark. It’s kinda right in town near the middle roundabout, across from the banks. I get the Pure Indulgent smoothie. Well, it’s not a smoothie, more of a juice. It’s just the sickest combo of stuff ever: Passionfruit, kiwi fruit, watermelon… it’s just got a bunch of shit in it that’s sick (laughs). It’s got a pineapple on the straw! And a watermelon and an orange on top of it, and you eat them as you’re drinking it and it’s the sickest thing ever.

****

Lunch: Burger Lounge
6b/1 Douglas St, Coolangatta QLD 4225
Order: The Lounge Burger ($12.50)

You’ve gotta go to Burger Lounge. It’s so legit. It’s over in Kirra. It’s got a sick selection of beers… even though I don’t even fucking drink beer, so it doesn’t matter for me. But for you it does! Everyone in there is a complete legend. You’ve gotta get the Lounge Burger, it’s a burger with beetroot relish on it… it’s the sickest beef burger. Since they’ve opened they’ve never got worse in quality. I sesh there a couple of times a week. There’s amazing onion rings and stuff. It’s high class shit but not yuppy burger. It’s just legit. You can choose your bun, or you can get it in a lettuce cup too, for a healthier option. Their buns are like, 30 percent better than a baker’s delight roll… and you know how legit those are. Nice and soft. If you order fries, make sure you only get a handful. If you get the ‘to share’ thing, thinking “yeah I’m a fucking legend, I’m gonna eat heaps of fries,” you’re gonna get so smoked. If you get fries, you probably won’t finish your burger. They’re deceivingly big. Especially if you have a beer with them. And, you’re sitting on couches. It’s like you’re just sitting on your couch at home, eating a burger. It’s so sick.

****

Dinner: Top Noodle
Shop56, Showcase on the Beach 72 – 80 Marine Pde, Coolangatta QLD
Order: Ebi Tempura Udon ($8)

Yeah, Top Noodle for dinner. It’s next to Grill’d. It’s a Japanese restaurant and it’s so nice, really quick, with hell nice staff. You can get curries, or ramen, or anything. The ebi tempura udon is the highlight though. It’s crunchy prawn in udon soup… I’m gonna say it’s eight bucks. It’s really cheap, they don’t try and sting you there, they hook you the fuck up. You walk out tripping on how little you paid. And, it’s BYO, so you can drink beer in there.

****

Post-Party: Big Chief
18 Griffith St, Coolangatta QLD 4225
Order: The Roadhouse Burger

If you’re hunting food late at night, you’ve gotta go to Big Chief. They’ve got kebabs, burgers, everything. It’s a full-on grease pit across the road from the sands. I get the Roadhouse burger, double meat, double cheese, with this weird relish on it. It’s so sick. Something that I wouldn’t get in there is a Hawaiian kebab, it’s got ham and pineapple in there and it’s fucking rank, I reckon. I wouldn’t go anywhere near that. Sometimes you can get late night seafood sticks in there… if you want a little minced-up crab meat… with miscellaneous meat. Maybe it’s even chicken in there, I don’t know. It’s miscellaneous though… make sure that you write that it’s miscellaneous. Then, obviously chips and gravy are a staple.